Rand and the Other Dimension
by Aviendha
Summary: The Dragon Reborn and Sammael step (or stumble) into a bored high school history class; balefire, dissipation, and a tasty little romance ensue.... Copyright 2002 Lorraine F. P.


The young woman sat in her history class, bored out of her mind as she listened to the teacher drone on about something really boring, when a voice rang cross the classroom, "Sammael, I will have my revenge!!!!"

A man in a shiny black frock coat with spills of white lace at throat and sleeves stumbled through a doorway from a place with high white marble columns and billowing white silk veily things. He looked frantically behind him and channeled a stream of something too bright to look at, then hastily jumped to the floor to escape a returning stream, barely missing hitting his head on a desk.

A regal, handsome young man stepped ominously through the doorway, red disheveled hair hanging into his angry gray eyes and red frock coat torn and bloodied. He barely glanced at the startled classroom, immediately seeing his opponent on the floor and channeling bailfire at him, making a hole in the floor that didn't stop at the ground. Sammael rolled away just in time, and sent a returning ray, which Rand dodged.

"So, you go running to another dimension, hoping to distract me and keep your precious palace from being distroyed," Rand snarled, aiming another ray of bailfire at Sammael. Talking seemed the best way to distract the Chosen, and any little straw of help in the battle was better than none.

Sammael grunted in anger and sidestepped another desk. "I was merely trying to escape—" He grimaced in annoyance; why let Rand know that he had the upper hand? How stupid of him; he must be getting tired. Wrapped in the void as he was, he could neither feel the blood running down his face or the soot and blood stains on his clothes.

Rand smiled knowingly, shooting a ball of fire at Sammael while blocking a streak of lightening aimed for his heart.

By now the class was in turmoil; the teacher and most of the students had backed up against the wall in fright, but two young girls remained standing relatively close to Rand, one eyeing him in pleased disbelief, the laughing like an idiot and smiling her ears off. Rand glanced at them in surprise, wondering whether maybe the female half of the One Source here was tainted or something, and the girl was mad. He smiled back, somehow feeling happiness streak the void, when she gasped in horror and shove him aside as a fireball blew past where his head had been. It singed her clothes and skin a little, but other than that she seemed al right—as best he could tell as she was lying on top of him.

Sammael laughed delightedly; Rand never liked to see the innocent hurt, much less a woman…

The girl squeaked in surprise as she was suddenly lifted into the air, bent back painfully, head jerked dawn and throat exposed. "If you move, she dies," he informed Rand threateningly.

Rand grimaced but acquiesced; he could no more kill a woman than see her die by someone else's hand. He turned to the rest of the class. "The rest of you, get out of here," he shouted, the door thrown open so hard it came half off its hinges.

He turned back to Sammael, pleading, "just don't hurt her or any of the others. Ill do anything you want, but let her go." She almost looked like his Ilyena, killed so many years ago…

Sammael grinned. "Al right, Al'thor. She'll be free as soon as you relinquish _saidin_." Rand grimaced, but slowly loosed his hold on the One Source. He felt the cool shield slide between him and _saidin_, and despair swept over him. 

The girl dropped to the floor, wincing, but Sammael still had a hold on her. "Come here, girl," he said, triumphant gaze never leaving Rand's face. She obeyed. Another doorway appeared in the air behind Sammael, and she could see total blackness through it. "Good. Now, see that doorway? I want you to step through it, and don't stop till you're completely one the other side."

Rand gasped; he knew where that doorway led. "No! Sammael, you promised!"

The Chosen merely laughed. "Never trust a darkfriend, Rand. You know that.'

Rand held the strange girl's gaze, looking into her wide dark green eyes. He could see only courage and determination in them, and a familiarity that seemed very odd to him all of a sudden. He frowned thoughtfully, but she smiled. So radiant, so beautiful in her smooth, pale face, framed by gently curling dark hair. He hated to see her fall into the endless blackness that was beyond that doorway, hated to see those kind, understanding eyes disappear forever. Suddenly his resolve hardened; she would not die, if he had to fall through with her. 

The girl saw his look of determination, and suddenly an idea popped into her head. A distraction…

She winked conspiratorially at Rand, then turned to Sammael. The Chosen had been watching them the whole time, waiting impatiently for her to disappear forever through the doorway. "What's holding you up, girl? I don't take kindly to disobedience."

The girl merely looked at him, wide-eyed. Suddenly her voice rang out, calm and clear. "Sammael, Forsaken of the Light, you will not prevail." She touched _saidar_, drawing as much as she could into herself, building, building, then released it. A massive ray of balefire suddenly hit the Chosen in the chest, and he dissolved into a tiny red mist that quickly faded. The last thing she saw before he disappeared were his wide, disbelieving eyes, staring at her in hatred and anguish.

Silence reigned for a whole minute, while Rand stared at her, open mouthed in surprise. She looked at him for a moment, eyes sweeping up and down his battered form, then back to his eyes. "I can heal you, if you wish," she stated, coming closer to him.

"I…I…al right." His acquiescence was reluctant, but there nonetheless. She placed a cool hand on his cheek, and a shudder went through him as his eyes closed. He stood a moment, cheek hot against her hand, then suddenly released _saidin_, and the void with it. With the rush of healing, his knees gave way, and he collapsed against her. She could barely hold him long enough to ease him to the ground. She sat, silent, against him, and after a moment, lay down next to him. Careful not to encroach on his space, lest he wake and channel something dreadful out of surprise. Without a thought for the concerned and terrified class outside—probably gone to the office now—her eyes closed and she drifted off into an exhausted sleep. The last time she could remember channeling like that had been nearly four centuries ago, when she was still an Aes Sedai in the other dimension…

Rand awoke. The first thing he felt was the hard, cold carpeted floor under his back, and a sense of cold air swishing over him—the air conditioner, as they called it here. He sat up and looked around, noticing the two doorways gone, closed, and then seeing the brave young girl beside him, sleeping as soundly as he had been a moment ago. It was the hottest noon, and he could see the bright sunlight beating down on the pavement outside the window. What a strange place this was. 

Suddenly he remembered the class that had been in here when he first stepped through; where were they? Well, wherever they had gone, there was no sign of them now. Then he felt the wards of _saidin_ that he had unconsciously set as soon as the last person had left the room; that would keep them out and keep anything else from being damaged in his battle with the Chosen. The now dead Chosen. 

His eyes returned to the young girl beside him. Now that he had time to see, he noticed she wore a very strange outfit for a woman, indeed. Tight blue breeches, made of some tough unyielding material he had never seen, and a low cut red shirt that did not leave much to the imagination. Despite himself, he blushed.

She sighed softly, and rolled over towards him, still deep in sleep. His blush deepened; he could see even more of her—he shook his head vigorously and looked away. What was he doing, with ears as red as a young boy stealing his first glimpse of a woman? He had nations to rule, armies to juggle, and a battle to the death ahead of him which he knew he wouldn't come out alive, and here he was blushing at the bosom of some girl half his age! Well, maybe she was only a couple years younger than him, but that changed nothing. 

He found himself wondering what he was going to do with her. The right choice would be to leave her here, but for some reason that put a sad frown on his face. He didn't like the idea of leaving her, whatever was right. She deserved to be honored for saving his life, not chastised for locking the class out of the classroom, as she surely would be once he left and took the wards with him. That decided him—he would have no choice but to take her back to his dimension with him; he would simply return her when she wanted to go home. 

Suddenly her eyes fluttered, and stretched, yawning groggily. Her deep green eyes opened to see his troubled gray ones, leaning over her, concerned. She merely lay there, staring up at his beautiful face, dark red hair falling into his wide eyes, masculine face brushed with innocent freckles. Her eyes wandered down to his lips, and she imagined herself kissing him. This was truly a dream come true: a character from one of her favorite series suddenly walks into her life—more like strides—and the next thing she knows she's on the floor with his intense, concerned gaze on her. Eyes like blue storms, swirling whorls of color, darker hues blooming in the lighter ones, so beautiful….

He cleared his throat nervously; she suddenly realized she was staring, and turned away, flustered. "I—I'm sorry," she stammered. "I was just, uh…" she trailed off at his smile, and returned it hesitantly. 

His clear, deep voice cut into the silence. "I have a proposition for you. You see, I hate to leave you here in your dimension to get in trouble for my actions. " His eyes wandered to the hole in the floor, and the disarray of desks, then snapped back to her. "I was wondering if you would come back to my world with me, where you can have a proper celebration for saving the Lord Dragon Reborn's life."

Her gasp of pleasure all but answered for her. "I'd love to! That is, of course, if you don't think Nynaeve or Egwene would mind. Or all the rest of the Aiel armies and high lords and ladies, which you do have a duty to. "

He frowned at her—how could she possibly know?! He asked her as much.

"Ill tell you later," she replied mysteriously, and stood, waiting for him to open a doorway.

He stood with her, frowning still. "Al right. But I want to know the _whole_ story, you hear, not just a half-cracked Aes Sedai plot riddled rubbish filled version…"

She smiled. "As the Lord Dragon commands," and laughed at his rumble of discontent. "C'mon, let's hurry up and get back to your world—I'm so excited to see everything I've been reading about!"

Still puzzled, he opened the doorway back to the Royal Palace in Andor, and put a protective arm around her waist before they stepped through. Her lack of violent protest put a smile on his face; this girl might make his day brighter merely by not being so like Nynaeve, or Egwene, or Elayne, or Aviendha, or…. The list went on, and he groaned at the prospect of what they would say to him when he returned. 


End file.
